


Date Night

by morganoconner



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganoconner/pseuds/morganoconner
Summary: In which Remus gets roped into babysitting duty with Sirius and things do not progress as expected.





	Date Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miya_Morana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miya_Morana/gifts).



> So, this is scary. A pairing I've never written (but have loved for many years), in a fandom I haven't written in fifteen years (and never under this pen name). Whew!
> 
> But it was wonderful to revisit these characters after so long, and I hope I did them justice even in the context of an AU. Miya, thank you so much for the opportunity to write this for you, and I hope you enjoy, even if it didn't end up going anywhere I expected your prompt to go! (Really though, when does it ever? /o\\)
> 
> With many thanks to Hils for Brit-picking this for me, because it really has been quite a long time since I needed that for my writing. ♥

The ringing of the phone is startling and unexpected, cutting into a perfect evening consisting of Remus's favorite armchair, a strong cup of tea, and a favorite book. He glares at the phone as it vibrates its way across the pocked wooden tabletop, but he knows that no matter how much he wants to ignore it, of course he's going to answer. Thusly resigned, he closes his book and exchanges it for the maddening device. Doesn't bother checking he ID because he knows who it is well before he answers with a grouchy, "Lupin."

"Moony!" The voice on the other end is downright chipper, which only serves to further aggravate Remus. This is nothing new, really. Part and parcel of being friends with questionable people is being annoyed more often than not. "Need a favor, mate."

"Of course you do." Remus sighs into the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to adopt a scolding tone, even if he knows how useless such a thing is to such a person as Sirius Black. "All right, let's have it," he finally says. "What sort of misfortune have you got yourself into this time?"

"Remus, darling, light of my life, you _wound_ me!" Sirius says, and Remus can picture him, wherever he is, clutching his chest and trying to make like he isn't trouble of the worst sort.

"I certainly _will_ ," he promises, "if you don't get on with it."

"Love it when you get all growly at me." Sirius is grinning. Remus can _hear_ him grinning.

"Sirius…" Remus says it like a warning.

"Babysitting," is the inexplicable response.

"Er…sorry?" Remus takes the phone away from his ear to blink at it, wondering if it's somehow malfunctioned while he wasn't looking.

" _Babysitting_ ," Sirius says again, laughing a bit. "Need your help looking after Harry's little poppet."

Remus is appropriately horrified by this. "Harry entrusted _you_ with his child?" he demands. "Why in the world would he do that?"

"Words hurt, Moony." Sirius gives a dramatic sigh. "And also, yes. Well, I sort of bullied him into it. Poor boy needs a break! You should see him, all dark-eyed and yawning and tripping over himself, poor sod. I told him to take the lovely Ginevra out for a well-earned date night."

"And he didn't…argue?" It's possible exhaustion had caused poor Harry to lose his sanity. Remus has never had children, but he's heard stories. Mostly from Ginny's mother, who'd had seven terrors of her own.

Sirius guffaws. "He practically magicked himself out of here, he moved so fast. Probably gave himself whiplash."

God, if Sirius is alone in the house with little Jamie Potter, that cannot be allowed to stand. Remus is going to _have_ to go, damn it all. "I'll be there in twenty minutes," he says, already standing and reaching for his coat.

In his ear, Sirius laughs. "No faith in me at all, Moony."

"None," Remus replies dryly. "Try not to traumatize the poor thing too badly before I get there."

He hangs up before Sirius can answer.

*

Remus Lupin met Sirius Black twenty-seven years ago. Remus was thirteen, attending Hogwarts for the first time, and Sirius was everything he was not. Most notably, he was rich, and he was popular. Remus, meanwhile, lived in hand-me-down uniforms his mother scavenged the thrift shops for, and was too quiet (and too poor) to make friends easily.

It's a wonder that they ever spoke two words to each other, let alone became friends. Sirius has always joked that fate played a daring hand, and James always attributes it to his influence (though really, James Potter was far worse than Sirius in those days). Remus has never offered his own opinion on the topic, but privately he thinks he must have chosen the task of friendship in order to keep both of them in line. For all the good it did, what with getting roped into their schemes more often than not, but at least his professors all told him he was a good influence.

The point is, while Remus doesn't quite know how their friendship started or, really, _worked_ , it did. Indeed, it had thrived. And it's weathered twenty-seven years of all sorts of storms, including Sirius being locked away for the first twelve years of James' son's life for a crime he didn't commit.

(Remus visited him every week, without fail, and Sirius told him, after, that it was the only thing to have kept him sane. He was heavily sloshed at the time, and it had come out far too honest for comfort.)

Twenty-seven years of stormy friendship in no way prepares Remus for what he walks into upon entering Harry and Ginny's flat.

"Shh," Sirius murmurs, beaming at Remus. He has Jamie against his shoulder sound asleep as he sways back and forth and runs one hand gently along his back. "Good to see you, old friend."

"You saw me just last week," Remus says, and hopes that the quietness of his voice hides the way it cracks. He swallows. "Are you sure you haven't killed him off?"

"Nah, he's fine. Was singing some of my aunt's old lullabies and he went out like a light."

Remus is suddenly very glad he came now and not, say, ten minutes ago. _Singing_. God.

"Well." He clears his throat. "Seems like you've got a handle on things, then." Somehow, against all expectation. Has Sirius ever been around a baby in his life? Maybe some of the Black cousins Remus has never met, but certainly no one he knows. Harry, perhaps, but he'd been facing trial soon after being named Harry's godfather, and never had much chance to bond until Harry was half-grown.

"Just making it up as I go, yeah?" Sirius coos gently at Jamie and leads Remus deeper into the house so he can set the baby down in his cot. "There you are," he murmurs when Jamie fidgets a bit. He tucks a blanket close to him and Jamie latches on, gnawing sleepily on a corner as he drifts off again. When Sirius straightens, he releases a slow breath and steers Remus back out to the kitchen. "I can handle him when he just wants a bottle and sleep, it's the waking hours that scare me. What happens after his nap?"

Remus does a poor job covering his snort of amusement, judging by Sirius's wounded gaze. "He's still very small, Padfoot. Mostly all he _does_ is eat and sleep and cry."

"See!" Sirius says, pointing a finger at Remus. "That, that right there! The crying! I'm not cut out for that sort of thing. That's what I need you for."

"Well, you've got some time." Remus eyes the clock. "He'll be down for a good hour or two, I'd wager." It's early yet, not quite gone five, but Remus suspects Harry will take full advantage of as much time away as he can get. Especially if Sirius hinted to him that he'd con Remus into helping. "What's your plan till then?"

"Spending some quality time with my best friend?" Sirius says with what he probably thinks is a winning smile.

(It is, but Remus will never admit so aloud.)

"Well, seeing as you've already got me here, I suppose." Remus sighs, but accepts a playful nudge to the shoulder. "I'm surprised to see _you_ don't have a date night tonight. It's Friday, isn't it?"

Sirius shrugs, and again takes Remus's arm to guide him into yet another room. The family room, now, where he flops onto the couch and pulls Remus down beside him. "Ended things with Charlie," he finally admits.

"Good," Remus shoots back, carefully not allowing himself to dwell on _why_ that's such a relief to hear. "He was too young for you and Molly was ready to turn into a dragon and roast your arse for even looking at him."

"Molly adores me," Sirius says with a casual wave of indifference. The worst thing is that he's perfectly right, she does, even if she finds herself baffled about it. Still, Charlie is eleven years Sirius's junior. It had been justified by and attributed to Sirius's lost years in Azkaban, thus making it questionable instead of dodgy, but it will still be a relief to have it over, Remus is sure.

"So what happened?" Remus asks, trying to be supportive.

Sirius shrugs, leaning back and focusing his gaze up towards the ceiling instead of at Remus. "Bit of a row about how I wasn't emotionally available. Which is true enough, anyway, and Charlie deserves better than a bloke who's been gone on someone else damn near forever, yeah?"

Remus blinks, parsing that. It makes something twist unpleasantly in his belly. "I…didn't know you were," he tries, which seems safe enough (and true), but Sirius still goes very red and shifts himself away by a few fractions.

"No, no, you wouldn't, it's, ah. Well, maybe not as serious as all that." Sirius looks as though it's _exactly_ as serious as all that, but Remus doesn't say so. This has become an entirely uncomfortable conversation all around, and he'd have it finished sooner rather than later, if given the option. "Anyway, we agreed it was better to end things before we wound up hating each other, parted with a kiss and a promise to stay friends, you know. All very cordial."

"That's good," Remus murmurs, halfway lost in thoughts he'd rather not be thinking. "So. No date night for you, then."

"Well, unless you count this?" Sirius flashes a halfhearted grin at Remus, doesn't even include the lecherous wink Remus would normally expect from him.

He rolls his eyes because it's better than saying any of the things that immediately pop into his head. "Two men and a baby seems more like the setup to another bad sitcom than a date, Padfoot, but the offer is of course appreciated." He doesn't _quite_ hit the sarcasm he tries for, but he thinks he manages a close approximation.

Something in Sirius's eyes dims, but he covers it well with an exaggerated yawn and stretch. "Well then, if you're all about breaking my heart, I suppose I might just nap along with the sprog."

Remus hesitates. He doesn't understand the look he saw pass over Sirius's face, and it's rare that he doesn't understand Sirius these days. He doesn't like it. Doesn't _trust_ it. "You're all right?" he asks, because really that's the only thing that matters. "I mean truly all right, not your usual blustering version where you're really not but want everyone to believe you are."

"I'm all right, Moony," Sirius replies softly. "Better with my best mate here." The smile seems a touch more genuine now, and the coiled tension in Remus's chest eases a bit. Perhaps this, then, was why Sirius wanted him here. Not for help with a baby he clearly (somehow) knew how to handle, but for simple companionship. Remus won't begrudge him that.

"Well. Let's see what's on the telly then. I'm sure we can find something watchable." So saying, Remus picks up the remote and carefully doesn't look at Sirius as they settle more comfortably beside each other.

They don't speak again, waiting for Jamie to wake from his nap and neither particularly focused on whatever is happening on the screen, but it's not an uncomfortable silence at all.

*

Jamie wakes grouchy, but a change of nappy and a quick search for his dummy calm him quickly enough. Sirius plays a tickle game with him while Remus watching on, then tricks Remus into joining them for peek-a-boo.

It's fun, keeping the nipper entertained and laughing at each other for all the silly things they do to do so. Remus feels simultaneously weightless and settled as the night wears on and they manage, between them, to get Jamie fed, burped, and changed again, and then he's ready to be put down for another nap, hopefully one that will last longer now he's been worn out a bit.

"You're good with him," Remus says, leaning against the doorway as he watches Jamie coo up at Sirius.

"Maternal instinct?" Sirius says, tongue-in-cheek. He winks, then smooths a hand over Jamie's wispy black curls and retreats back into the kitchen with Remus. "God, if he's this exhausting now, imagine when he can actually move on his own and talk back to us."

Remus wonders if Sirius knows how much he sounds like he's looking forward to that.

"Anyway." Sirius glances at his watch. "It's only half-eight. Call for takeaway or raid Harry's fridge?"

"Takeaway," Remus decides, and twenty minutes later they're back on the couch greedily devouring several containers of Thai.

"You know," Sirius says through a mouth of food because that's how Sirius as. "As date nights go, this one wasn't so bad."

Remus stills, knowing Sirius is just being himself, knowing it means nothing. And yet. _And yet_.

_A bloke who's been gone on someone else damn near forever_ , he hears again, and he knows Sirius, would like to believe he'd have had noticed something like that, something like Sirius gone arse-over-teakettle for someone outside their small circle of friends.

Unless it wasn't someone _outside_ that circle.

It's stupid to hope, but god, Remus can't tame that small flutter in his chest anyway, the thought that maybe…

"Remus?" Sirius asks, poking him in the side and looking a bit concerned. "All right, mate?"

Remus nods, and carefully sets aside his container of food that has suddenly gone tasteless. "Just thinking, you're not half wrong," he says, carefully. So carefully. Treading someone he's not sure he can come back from. "And. You could certainly do worse." He flashes an unsure smile at Sirius, who looks surprised, and then sad, and then amused in a rather fake sort of way.

"Good one, Moony." He snorts. "You're not half wrong either, though. Could do a lot worse, I expect."

Remus murmurs some sort of sound of agreement but doesn't move, and slowly, Sirius meets his eyes again.

"Wager I could never do better, though," he finally says, quiet like Sirius so rarely is.

"Well," Remus starts, but then doesn't know what else to say. So instead of voice he uses touch, curling his hand around Sirius's, threading their fingers together, never once taking his gaze from those wide dark eyes staring back at him. "I reckon we could find out," he finally manages, his voice gone gravel. "If you weren't opposed."

"Are we really…is this actually happening?" Sirius demands in a small voice. "Did I finally go off my rocker from all the pining?"

Remus is secretly elated at the idea of Sirius pining (not in small part because he likes the idea that he wasn't alone in his idiocy all these years), but wisely doesn't say so. "It's possible. But I think unlikely." He tightens his grip, then takes Sirius's other hand as well. "All this time, did you really think it was just you, Padfoot?"

"I…I didn't…"

Sirius is never at such a loss for words and it's delightful to hear now. This is not how Remus might have expected tonight to go in even his wildest imaginings, but now that it's happening, Remus can't figure out why it always seemed so impossible. Of course it's the two of them. Remus and Sirius, Moony and Padfoot, inseparable since their school days. Of course.

_Of course._

Remus feels the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth even as he tugs Sirius closer. "Neither did I," he says, and kisses him.

Sirius moans, a broken sound, and one hand releases Remus's to slide up and clench in the back of his shirt as they press closer. Years of pent up feelings and desperation burn in every touch, and Remus can't breathe with it, with how much he suddenly _wants_ now that he's allowing himself.

"I love you." He presses the words into Sirius's mouth because it's impossible not to, and because he _does_ love Sirius, in a thousand different ways both spoken and unspoken through the years.

Sirius clings harder, pressing his forehead to Remus's as he catches his breath on what might be a sob. "You –"

Somewhere far, far away, there's a sound that doesn't fit, breaking between them and making both go still.

It comes again. A soft cry.

"Oh. Oh god." Sirius laughs, still clinging to Remus, eyes closed through his sudden rising hysteria. "Jamie. Jamie woke up."

Remus can't help but laugh with him. "Seems he inherited his grandfather's impeccable sense of timing," he says, and Sirius tries to smother a fresh bout of giggles in his shoulder.

"God. All right. We'll just. Later?" Sirius asks, standing, trying to compose himself. He looks suddenly small and unsure, and Remus hates that, hates that it reminds him of too many hours (days, weeks, _years_ ) seeing him look like that in Azkaban.

"Yes," is what he says, all he can offer. "Later." He grins, an old spark of mischief no one but Sirius has ever been able to wring out of him. "Besides," he adds, "I don't put out on the first date."

He laughs aloud again as Sirius leaves the room muttering, "We'll see about that, we will just _see_ about that, won't we?"

Yes, Remus is certain they will.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently desperately fundraising for college, after recently being accepted to the University of Pittsburgh (!!!!!!)...if anyone is interested, more information can be found [here](http://morganoconner.tumblr.com/post/160403536512/all-of-my-past-work-can-be-found-here-my). ♥


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